Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative

A free, online, six-week course by the Vanderbilt University in July. Could be interesting:

Intended for both newcomers who are curious about video games and hard-core gamers who want to reflect on their passion, this course will explore what happens to stories, paintings, and films when they become the basis of massively multiplayer online games. The Lord of the Rings trilogy—the novels, films, and video game—are our central example of how “remediation” transforms familiar stories as they move across media. We will study The Lord of the Rings Online against the backdrop of other games such as Final Fantasy , Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Skyrim; narrative theory, intermediality, and game theory; poems by Spenser, Coleridge, Keats, and Browning; fiction by Tolkien and others; and art since the Pre-Raphaelites that has influenced the neo-medievalism of much fantasy literature and gaming.

Drawing on centuries of romance narrative conventions, the twenty-first century gaming industry has become a creative and economic powerhouse. It engages the talents of some of our brightest writers, artists, composers, computer engineers, game theorists, video producers, and marketing professionals, and in 2011, it generated an estimated $64 billion in revenue. Anyone interested in today’s culture needs to be conversant with the ways this new medium is altering our understanding of stories. Join me as we set out on an intellectual adventure, the quest to discover the cultural heritage of online games.

Key points
-4-6 hours/week work load
-10 - 20 minute long lecture videos
-Need comp capable of playing LOTRO as there are in game assignments (and im assuming will be some kind of gathering of the class in here as there is mention of meeting the lecturer in game)
-Need LOTRO, of course, however all work for the course will be done in the free areas.
-Interactive in game and written assignments, optional video and game design assinments

Instead of getting your knickers in a twist, go ahead and cite some examples of poems that have had a profound impact on the gaming industry. If I'm so 'retarded' I'm sure it'll be easy as for you to do

Instead of getting your knickers in a twist, go ahead and cite some examples of poems that have had a profound impact on the gaming industry. If I'm so 'retarded' I'm sure it'll be easy as for you to do

Wow, what a terrible question and way of framing what I and Gwarden said. Have you heard of The Odyssey or The Illiad? Aka two of the oldest stories ever told? Or songs with lyrics in them? That's all poetry guy. Poetry is deeply rooted in the way storytelling developed. You wouldn't have one without the other. And shock horror, most games have stories in them. So of course it's relevant.

But nah bra can't find any instances where Kratos whipped out the old "roses are red, violets are blue" in God of War so poetry must be totally irrelevant.

Instead of getting your knickers in a twist, go ahead and cite some examples of poems that have had a profound impact on the gaming industry. If I'm so 'retarded' I'm sure it'll be easy as for you to do

Poetry has a profound impact on the usage of language and writing and since language and writing are integral parts of the gaming industry, I'd say poetry has had a profound impact on the industry. But of course you've shifted the goal posts from 'poetry doesn't impact gaming' to 'give me explicit examples of poems impacting games'. Somewhat disingenuous in my opinion.

Poetry has a profound impact on the usage of language and writing and since language and writing are integral parts of the gaming industry, I'd say poetry has had a profound impact on the industry.

That's like saying there is violence in games and there are violent crimes therefore games have a profound impact on the violent crimes. You've just connected two completely separate dots... anyone can do that, you still have to provide proof of the connection.

Honestly, unless someone can provide some examples I think you're all just overreacting to a negative remark about the course without giving it much thought. I haven't said poems are a worthless endeavour, I've questioned their impact on the gaming industry specifically. And it's hardly an impossibility - games are programmed by people who were taught how to programme. The only possible connection is the script writers... but even that is a massive jump because that sort of content doesn't exist outside of the game itself, in most cases.
Some, like LOTR, are a special case. How many games are based off such a wealth of material like LOTR though? And even then, poems are quite unique.

Congratulations on missing out on the most obvious of connections. You're comparission to video game violence is idiotioc and you've picked a hot topic issue because you expected it to garner you more support.

[colour=green]It's not worth explaining how poetry shaped the narrative of stories over the course of human existence and definied the art of story telling before literacy was a common part of society.[/colour]

If you don't think that these poems or ballads, if you'd prefer to call them that, are important or impact on the stories that we currently tell you're sorely mistaken as history defines the present.

Poems are where storytelling as a form of entertainment and communication flourished, if you don't understand that games are a type of narrative that's evolved from the very beginning of human existence and that poems are a stepping stone in this evolutionary chain then I'm not sure if I would be able to explain it to you.

We always have problems seeing eye to eye anyway so I'm not surprised about this.

Yes I'm well aware of poems' impact on the world of storytelling. This isn't about that.

We're talking about games. What games have you played that used poems as source material, or had poems created through the conceptual stages?

Yes, my comparison to violent crimes is idiotic... just as saying 'poems are important to stories and games have stories therefore poems are important to games' is idiotic.
And that's why people are demanding specific examples from the people investigating the violent crime connection to games.
What you are all claiming is the same premise... all I want is specific examples.

Thought it'd be easy seeing as you're all so certain poems has an impact on games.

James
wrote:

For Tolkien, his studies of epic poetry such as Beowulf strongly influenced the LOTR. There's a very, very direct link between poetry and LOTR, and for that matter, prose.
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Yes... I already mentioned LOTR specifically. They've created games from Tolkein's material, some of which consisted of poems.
So great - we have one example. This is hardly what I'd call a discussion on poems' impact of games.

Yes I'm well aware of poems' impact on the world of storytelling. This isn't about that.

If you were well aware of it we wouldn't be having this conversation. This course is about what's influenced the game industry to become what it is today.

Article
wrote:

Drawing on centuries of romance narrative conventions, the twenty-first century gaming industry has become a creative and economic powerhouse.

I'm going to state this once and that's it. If you can't understand it I give up:

This course is not about specific instances where a poem is adopted into a game; it's about the themes and narrative strucuture and how they intersect and how these themes etc. have impacted how the gaming industry and shaped it into what it is today.

And the course is about how games, as a new medium, fit into/elaborate upon a narrative tradition. Really not sure where your heel-digging is coming from, sorry man? It's comes off as a pedantic and deliberately anti-intellectual attempt to derail the thread?

Do you seriously think they're going to hold a course, talk about poems' impact but without specific references?

No, of course not. I questioned their impact, I was told I was wrong yet not one has provided any actual evidence. I mean, if you're all so certain I would've thought examples would have been flowing. So far no one has managed to provide a case for their argument... apart from general comments with no substance.

So next time you disagree how about backing yourselves up? Get pretty sick of people just arguing for the sake of it. Why not kick my ass and overwhelm me with evidence? If I were on the other side I'd be doing exactly that.

James
wrote:

Really not sure where your heel-digging is coming from, sorry man? It's comes off as a pedantic and deliberately anti-intellectual attempt to derail the thread?

I laughed at the idea of poems having an impact on the gaming industry. I was told I was wrong so I asked for examples. Not much to it really. When I argue a subject I usually back myself up with resources.